Aretha Franklin performs at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Dino Perrucci
At 72, the Queen of Soul has been a royal mostly in repose, laying low over the past decade; canceled shows and reports of ill health haven't been encouraging. But with news of a major LP nearing completion, Aretha Franklin's two-night run at Radio City Music Hall in New York City — a make-up for dates postponed in January — felt like a comeback, albeit a low-key one.
Low key for a queen, that is. On the first night, after a fanfare by her big band (led by longtime collaborator H.B. Barnum and featuring an 11-piece brass section), Franklin strode out in a lipstick-red off-the-shoulder gown and a fur stole, which she tossed onto the Hammond organ console. What followed was an uneven set that often felt like a private party, complete with Facebook-y slide show, rambling shout-outs to colleagues, a lengthy joke about a dog that ate Jimmy Choo footwear and, periodically, incredible singing.
Franklin introduced "Say a Little Prayer" as "a tune by Mr. Burt Bacharach — thanks for the million-seller!" With lead vocal parts delivered by her backing singers (a five-member chorus led by emeritus soul accompanist Fonzi Thornton), its unusual structure gave Franklin a chance to ramp up. Her voice has thinned a bit, but ramp up she did, unfurling jazzy, gospel-style vocal runs. It was followed by solid versions of "Angel" (her 1973 hit co-written by her sister Carolyn) and "Hooked on Your Love" (from Sparkle, her 1976 collaboration with the late Curtis Mayfield, who she described as "the black Bach"). But it wasn't until she dug into her 1967 barn-burner "I Never Loved a Man The Way That I Love You," swooping and soaring across octaves, that you could fully hear the Aretha of yore: fierce, tender, indomitable.
Then, six songs in, she was gone. The band riffed off a Stevie Wonder song, brought out three able-bodied go-go dancers, and laid into an extended version of Pharrell's "Happy," with the emcee urging the audience to dance. Pardon me? Why in hell should we be dancing to a half-baked cover of the year's most overplayed pop jingle when we came to hear the Queen of Soul? Thankfully, Aretha reappeared before there was too much time to ponder that question, this time in a sparkling white gown that signaled it was gospel time. "Old Landmark," the rafter-rocker from Franklin's 1972 landmark Amazing Grace, turned Radio City into a Baptist church, Aretha calling the spirit with impressive force, kicking off her shoes to pad the stage barefoot, and launching into an extended testimonial section. "My name is Franklin; I come from a prayin' family!" she declared, sharing a tale of receiving a grim medical diagnosis. "A few years later," she continued, "I went back for my CAT scan, and they said, ‘what we saw in the X-ray before, it ain't there no more!' Can I get a witness?!"
She got many — the crowd, whooping and clapping, was old enough to be familiar with such scenarios. Sure, the show was too brief; it had sound problems, skipped a huge number of classics and petered out with a perfunctory reading of "Respect." Franklin didn't preview her forthcoming set, a reported collaboration with Babyface and Andre 3000 overseen by her old friend Clive Davis. (Aretha covering Adele's "Rolling in the Deep"? We'll take two, please.) And the gospel interlude was a reminder that the long-stalled documentary on the Amazing Grace LP remains, 40-plus years after the fact, in limbo. And yet: in the presence of Aretha Franklin and her still-monumental voice, ultimately, one can only give thanks.
Aretha Franklin sings the National Anthem at the opening of the 363rd Commencement Ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Paul Marotta/Getty Images
Aretha Franklin has racked up more than a few superlatives in her incredible career: The Queen of Soul, Rolling Stone's Greatest Singer of All Time, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, Kennedy Center honoree. Now add "Harvard graduate" to that list. Franklin received an honorary degree during the prestigious Ivy League university's commencement yesterday, Billboard reports. Franklin joined former President George H.W. Bush and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg as recipients.
The last time Aretha performed a patriotic song at a high-profile event – "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" at President Barack Obama's first inauguration in January 2009 – Franklin spawned a popular meme thanks to her flamboyant hat. Aretha sported some similarly unlikely headwear when she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the Harvard ceremony: a traditional black graduation cap with a crimson gown. Franklin herself played the piano for the soulful rendition of our National Anthem, which was gleefully filmed by a bunch of star struck smart people. Watch Aretha's performance below:
Earlier this year, Franklin told Rolling Stone about linking up with Andre 3000 for a future project. "Andre 3000 is going to be aiding in producing some of the tracks," said Franklin. "I love everything he does. He’s got a groove that I really, really like." The singer also revealed that she may cover Beyonce for a future track for her next album. "I like 'Bootylicious,' 'Survivor' – my little granddaughter loves 'Survivor,'" she said. "She’s a worker," Franklin says of Beyonce. "And I can appreciate that. I’m a worker."
Aretha Franklin has released a cover of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" ahead of her upcoming covers album. Frank Hoensch/Redferns via Getty Images
Adele is one of the most acclaimed soul singers of her generation. But now she's earned major "Respect" from the all-time greatest, Aretha Franklin, who's shared her cover version of "Rolling in the Deep." Franklin gives the 2011 smash a fiery makeover, tossing off melismatic vocal runs and even incorporating the chorus from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's Motown classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."
Related: Where Does Aretha Franklin Rank on Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Greatest Singers?
The cover tune, available to stream below, is the first single from the 72-year-old Franklin's new covers LP, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, out October 21st on RCA Records.
The album's track list spans numerous eras and styles of soul – from Etta James' bluesy 1960 staple "At Last" to Sinéad O’Connor's minimal 1990 pop ballad "Nothing Compares 2 U" to Alicia Keys' anthemic 2007 R&B smash "No One." In addition to singing throughout, Franklin also plays piano on a version of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On."
The album was co-produced by Franklin and Sony Music Entertainment's Chief Creative Officer Clive Davis and features additional production work from André 3000, Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds, Harvey Mason Jr., Terry Hunter and Eric Kupper. A limited edition vinyl will be available for pre-order on September 30th, and select retailers are offering a download of Franklin's "Rolling in the Deep" with digital pre-order.
Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics track list.
1. "At Last" (Etta James Cover) 2. "Rolling In The Deep" (Adele Cover) 3. "Midnight Train To Georgia" (Gladys Knight and The Pips Cover) 4. "I Will Survive" (Gloria Gaynor Cover) 5. "People" (Barbra Streisand Cover) 6. "No One" (Alicia Keys Cover) 7. "I’m Every Woman" (Chaka Khan Cover) / "Respect" 8. "Teach Me Tonight" (Dinah Washington Cover) 9. "You Keep Me Hangin’ On" (The Supremes Cover) 10. "Nothing Compares 2 U" (Sinéad O’Connor Cover)
Aretha Franklin and Clive Davis attend the 92nd Street Y Presents An Evening With Aretha Franklin, Clive Davis and Anthony DeCurtis. Nomi Ellenson/FilmMagic
When it came time for Aretha Franklin to put her stamp on "Nothing Compares 2 U," the Queen of Soul reached back – past 1990, when Sinéad O’Connor recorded her landmark cover of the track, and even past 1985, when Prince wrote it for the Family – all the way to the early 1960s
"I went back to my days in New York, down in the Village where I started," Franklin, 72, tells Rolling Stone backstage at the grand 92Y event hall in Manhattan's Upper East Side. "Back to [jazz clubs] the Village Vanguard and the Village Gate, where my dad brought me. I stayed down there with the jazz greats Horace Silver and Charlie Mingus, Coltrane… It just doesn’t come any better than that."
That swinging era is channeled in Franklin’s emotive cover of "Nothing," in which she scats playfully over the punchy brass bleats and ringing percussion of a bohemian bop troupe. The cut – produced by Andrè 3000 of Outkast – is one of the 10 tracks on Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, the vocal icon’s new album of cover songs. A fitting endeavor for the artist who redefined "Respect" by Otis Redding and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel, the album is set for release on October 21st on RCA Records.
"Andrè called me after [they recorded the track] and said, 'One word: amazing,'" adds Clive Davis, 82, Chief Creative Officer of Sony Music. "I proposed the covers album concept to Aretha. The criteria was: how do you find the song you love, that you want to pay respect to, but do it with creativity, originality, difference?"
The songs that made the grade have Franklin’s distinct gospel-imbued delivery and span generations. Adele's 2010 pop staple "Rolling in the Deep," deftly entwined midway with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain’t No Mountain High Enough," is the husky first single, and Franklin performed it recently on Letterman (with a backing vocal assist by Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney and Franklin’s longtime collaborator who also appears on the album). Adele, Franklin said, makes the grade as a true diva: "She’s a really good writer with very heavy, deep lyrics," she explains. "She’s got something to say and she says it a little differently than the norm. But Miss Adele is not one to be messed with, listening to those lyrics!"
Diva Classics also includes a languid spin through Alicia Keys' "No One" (paced, at the creator’s suggestion, with reggae-Caribbean inflection) and swinging, piano-heavy versions of "At Last" (made classic by Etta James) and "Midnight Train to Georgia" (first recorded by Cissy Houston, but made famous by Gladys Knight and the Pips).
Franklin said revisiting those songs afforded her a nostalgic look at her youth, where she grew up near Motown Records' studio in Detroit, as well as at her earliest performing days in the South. "I grew up with these songs. I told [Motown Records founder] Berry [Gordy], 'You owe me a lot of money. I bought a lot of those records,'" she recalled, as Davis laughed heartily. "I had a wonderful time singing those songs; I identify with them. Gladys and I worked some of the same clubs coming up, like the Royal Peacock in Atlanta."
Later in the evening, in the 92Y’s main theater, Franklin and Davis sat for a lengthy onstage interview with Rolling Stone contributing editor Anthony DeCurtis. Before an elated crowd that clapped more frequently than the average State of the Union address, Franklin and Davis played five previously unheard tracks from the record (along with "Rolling") and divulged secrets of their longtime partnership. ("We’re both Aries – we have a lot of fire," joked Franklin, while Davis called their long lineage together "a thrill, an honor.")
Of the premiered album tracks, "I Will Survive" (originally by Gloria Gaynor) was a runaway crowd favorite – thanks, in part, to Franklin’s savvy mid-song shift into a few bars of "Survivor" by Destiny’s Child – and "I'm Every Woman" (Chaka Khan) drew surprised shrieks for its unannounced mash-up with Franklin’s seminal rendition of "Respect." (This time, the chorus’ sprightly "sock it to me" refrain is elongated into sultry murmurs.) Franklin and Davis danced merrily in their chairs throughout the album interludes, snapping their fingers; Davis repeatedly and gleefully hooted "Turn it up!" to the amenable sound tech.
Franklin, clad in a vibrant yellow pantsuit, cited "savoir faire" as the premier quality of a "real singer," and grinned as she recalled subsidizing her childhood roller-skating and chili dog budget with church singing performances. Davis, who partnered with Franklin after the singer’s late-1960s golden run on Atlantic Records that yielded her hits "Respect" and "Chain of Fools," was a clear and guileless fan throughout; he called her voice "as great as it ever was – still unique and glorious." (He also struck a harmonious sartorial note with Franklin, as his citrus-green tie and pocket square matched Franklin’s attire.)
In one emotionally charged moment, Davis recalled Franklin’s glamorous performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" (from LesMisérables) at the 1993 presidential inauguration of Bill Clinton – a poignant moment in which Franklin spontaneously changed the lead lyric to "I had a dream," in vein of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic speech. "The president and his wife were visibly gasping," Davis recounted mistily.
When discussion turned to Franklin’s legacy, she spoke favorably of singers rising in her stead. "It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person," she said. "It means I’ve done my job." DeCurtis wound down the exchange by asking Franklin who she’d like to see star in a biopic of her life – Jennifer Hudson and Audra McDonald made the shortlist – and about songs that have brought her to tears. The Queen answered with a regal self-effacement: "I’ve probably cried with a lot of songs – in teenage crushes, adult crushes," she said wryly. A diva’s work is never done.
Aretha Franklin onstage in Atlanta, Georgia, on November 8th, 2014. Paras Griffin/Getty
Listen," Aretha Franklin says to a waiter as she points at her fish sandwich. "Don't you have the smoked salmon?" She's sitting in the restaurant at New York's Ritz-Carlton on a rainy Friday afternoon, wearing a bright fur coat, hair spilling out of a winter cap. The waiter explains that Franklin's lunchtime staple – salmon and cream cheese on whole-wheat bread – isn't on the menu anymore. "But I will talk to the chef," he adds quickly. "He will do it for you right now."
Franklin, 72, just finished signing a stack of copies of her new album, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, her first recording since she was reportedly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2010. Franklin canceled several shows at the time; tabloids had her on deathwatch. When she was honored at the Grammys the next year, she looked noticeably thinner. Franklin denied the diagnosis, but last June, onstage at Radio City Music Hall, she recalled receiving a grim diagnosis from doctors: "[I told them,] 'You burn the midnight oil, you read books, but you really don't know that much about me. You see, I come from a praying family.' . . . A couple of years later, I went back to the hospital, and those same doctors are saying, 'Miss Franklin, the thing we saw before, we don't see no more.' Hallelujah!"
This week, Respect, a new biography by David Ritz, has been getting a lot of publicity – and Franklin is not happy about it. Ritz ghostwrote Franklin's 1999 autobiography but was unsatisfied with the results. "Self-reflection doesn't come easy to her," Ritz says. So, drawing from his interviews with her and her close family, he published a book that details the wild offstage promiscuity of the Fifties gospel circuit as well as Franklin's troubled marriage to Ted White, who managed her before their divorce in 1969. "[It's] a very trashy book – all lies," she said recently.
Today, Franklin is careful with her words and at times combative. When I ask if I can record our conversation, she flatly declines. "You can take notes," she says. When I mention praise in the book from her sister Carolyn – "She slips into a zone when she sings . . . and connects to the Holy Spirit" – Aretha cringes. "I don't think Carolyn ever said anything like that. That doesn't even sound like Carolyn."
Aretha with Clive Davis Kevin Mazur/Getty
Franklin's new album – on which she covers Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia" and Adele's "Rolling in the Deep" – reunites her with Clive Davis, who helped revive her career in the Eighties with a series of hits on his Arista label. Davis had been pushing Franklin to record an album of diva classics for years, sometimes over dinner at the Four Seasons. According to Davis, Franklin hasn't lost any fire. "She's come back in peak form," he says. "The wonder of Aretha is she can do any song. And with very, very few exceptions, two takes is as close to the maximum as she does."
For Franklin, the album is a chance to prove herself in a pop world with more divas than ever. "It was never as competitive as it is now," Franklin says. "People are being very selective about what they spend their money on. I understand that this year they haven't had any platinum records. I hope to have the first one. That would be fabulous."
Soon, the salmon hors d'oeuvre arrives, which she offers me. "A little caviar, too," she says, savoring a bite. "Great!"
Franklin has lived in Detroit for most of her life, but visiting New York reminds her of when she moved there in 1960. She was 18 and had just been signed to Columbia Records. "I always had a chaperone," she says with a smile. "I was working with the jazz greats – Charlie Mingus, John Coltrane, Blue Mitchell. All of the best of the best."
Franklin had been a star in the gospel world for years before signing to Columbia. At 12, she joined her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin – whose sermons sold millions of copies on Chess Records – on the road. "His delivery was very dynamic," she says. "If he had chosen to be a singer, he would've been a great one." Her favorite sermon of his was "A Wild Man Meets Jesus," about a man who goes insane, abandons his family and winds up living in a graveyard. Jesus sails through a rainstorm to meet him and exorcises him of demons, to the dismay of townspeople who prefer the man as the village idiot. "The man walks into someone he immediately knows is superior and supreme to him, without any words," says Franklin. "That's what I love about that. It underscores a supreme being."
Franklin was no stranger to big personalities growing up – her parents' parties included Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington and Sam Cooke. "I had a teenage crush on him," Franklin says of Cooke. "Very classy, very classy. He came from the church, so it would be hard not to have class."
Franklin's early records sold poorly – her Columbia material was lounge-y and overly slick, and she was mistakenly marketed as a supper-club soul singer in the mold of Dinah Washington. She didn't become the Queen of Soul until she signed to Atlantic Records in 1966. There, she was backed by the Muscle Shoals rhythm section and produced by Jerry Wexler, who added a funky, psychedelic edge to match her gospel fervor. "Jerry asked me to play the piano [in the studio]," she says. "You could call my piano my trademark, or one of my trademarks."
Soon, Franklin was topping the charts with songs like 1967's "I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You)" and "Respect," which she singles out as her two favorite songs in her catalog. "Everybody wants respect," she says. "In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms." As for the "sock it to me" backing vocals in "Respect," she clarifies: "There was nothing sexual about that. Some people thought that, but it wasn't."
Franklin lights up when she remembers February 16th, 1968. The mayor of Detroit christened it Aretha Franklin Day, ahead of her show that night at Cobo Hall. "Dr. King was there, my dad was there," she recalls. "When we walked into the arena and became visible to the audience, then the crowd erupted. It was like the ceiling was coming down."
Songs like "Respect," "Chain of Fools" and "Think" became anthems for the civil rights and women's liberation movements, though Franklin downplays her influence on the latter: "I think that's Gloria Steinem's role. I don't think I was a catalyst for the women's movement. Sorry. But if I were? So much the better!" Today, she praises Beyoncé for carrying the torch for feminism in pop. "Astrologically, for what it's worth, she's a Virgo, like Michael Jackson," Franklin says. "A very hard worker."
Franklin's classic work earned her the top spot on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest singers of all time, in 2008. "I went, 'What?' I did a triple take!" It's one of dozens of accolades she's earned in recent years: There are also honorary doctorates from Harvard and Yale, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. "Hard to beat that," she says. "But 20 Grammys is not bad either."
These days, Franklin does her best to keep up with pop culture. ("If you missed something, you can always go to YouTube.") She listens to a lot of pop radio. "I like 'Bang Bang,' " she says. "Ariana Grande – I like her a lot." She's not as keen on Taylor Swift, who ended up beating Franklin to the first platinum album of the year. "I heard 'Shake, Shake' – is that what it's called?" she says. What does she think? "I love her gowns. I went to her website and saw she wore Oscar de la Renta. I tried to order that gown. I love whoever is dressing her. She wears some beautiful clothes."
The last movie she saw was Get On Up, the James Brown biopic. "It was good, up to a point," she says. "I met with the producers prior to that movie. Had we agreed on a creative approach, it would've been my movie." She says she's in negotiations again for her own biopic – she even has someone in mind for the lead role: Audra McDonald, who won a Tony for portraying Billie Holiday in Lady Day. "It would be her job to bring it home," Franklin says. "The question is whether she has that ability."
Franklin has some other big plans in mind: She hopes to teach a "master class" at Carnegie Hall and would like to record with both Smokey Robinson ("the fact that we haven't yet is crazy") and Stevie Wonder. "I saw him play Robert De Niro's tribute the other night, and Stevie was so good. The level of music was 'Whoa!' You should've been there."
Franklin will play one-off shows throughout the coming year, sprinkling in covers from the new album alongside her biggest hits. "I find new ways to just keep it fresh for me," she says. "I still don't think I would do anything else. I guess I could've been a prima ballerina. Or a nurse. Aretha Nightingale!"
